Sports

Golden Eagles advance

Badgers top Panthers, will face Marquette

Survival was the name of the game for the Marquette University women's soccer team Friday night.

The Golden Eagles did what they needed to do in a 1-0 win over Central Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Division I tournament at Valley Fields.

Marquette will play Wisconsin in a second-round match at 1 p.m. Sunday at Valley Fields. The Badgers beat UW-Milwaukee, 2-1.

Marquette, 16-4-2 and seeded third in its tournament region, got a goal from Rachael Sloan in the second half of the match, which was plagued by chilly winds and occasional drizzle.

"This is the tournament, and you have to scratch, claw and fight your way through. You have to be ready to do anything to advance," Marquette coach Markus Roeders said. "We knew this wasn't going to be any easy game."

Marquette had the better chances in the first half, especially in the last 20 minutes. After a slow start, the Golden Eagles began connecting and got some good opportunities.

In the 33rd minute, freshman Taylor Madigan uncorked a nice shot that Central Michigan goalkeeper Shay Mannino had to leap up to nab. Another great chance by Marquette went awry on an offside call.

The Golden Eagles attacked the goal to start the second half. Finally, in the 61st minute, Rachel Brown sent a nice pass through two defenders to Sloan, who was running in from the right.

"I got to the ball and it was wide open in front of me. I slid right into the ball and got into the net," Sloan said about her seventh goal of the season. "Just a really good play by Rachel."

Roeders and Sloan said the team didn't get frustrated when it couldn't find the net earlier in the match.

"We seem to do that this season," Sloan said. "We will have a lot of chances and come away with only one or two goals. But tonight we were confident we could put one away if we just kept working hard."

Goalkeeper Natalie Kulla kept the Chippewas (16-5-1) off the scoreboard. They had only two shots on goal.

Wisconsin 2, UWM 1: Freshman midfielder Kodee Williams scored the winner in the second half and had the assist on a first-half goal to lead the Badgers.

The Marquette offense will face a major test against the Badgers (11-4-4), who have allowed only nine goals.

Wisconsin took the lead in the 27th minute when Laurie Nosbusch scored off a cross from Williams.

UWM (12-7-2) got the equalizer in the 68th minute from senior Sarah Hagen. Hagen took a long serve from Sarah Stern, moved to her right and fired a low shot into the corner of the far post. It was Hagen's 19th goal of the season and 67th overall.

But UW regained the lead just 29 seconds later. Lauren Cochlin dashed down the right side and crossed the ball into the UWM box. The ball was deflected, came to Williams' feet and she poked it home.

"I was in the right spot at the right time," Williams said. "I tried to take my time. I didn't want to hit it too hard. I didn't want the ball to go over the net or anything."